Habs will buy out Kaberle

The Canadiens will correct another one of former general manager Pierre Gauthier’s mistakes and clear up $4.25 million in salary-cap space by using their second – and final – compliance buyout on defenceman Tomas Kaberle.

The move, which won’t become official until 48 hours after the Stanley Cup is awarded, was expected, but there was a delay while current general maanger Marc Bergevin put out some feelers to see if there was a team willing to trade for the final year on Kaberle’s contract.

The Canadiens acquired Kaberle on Dec. 9, 2011 in a trade that sent Jaroslav Spacek to Carolina. Gauthier panicked at the time when he learned Andrei Markov wasn’t ready to return from knee surgery. The Hurricanes, who had signed Kaberle to a three-year, $12.75-million free-agent deal, were only too happy to rid themselves of the contract because the defenceman wasn’t in shape.

Kaberle was in better shape this season, but played in only 10 games because the Canadiens were planning to buy him out and didn’t want to run the risk of an injury. The buyout will cost the Canadiens $3 million, but it won’t count against the salary cap.

The Canadiens used their first compliance buyout on Scott Gomez before the start of the 2013 season.

Ok so how many of you think the Habs have what it takes to play in a Stanley Cup final ?
I can only think of maybe 1 or 2 players, Mr. Bergevin you have your work cut out for you. Maybe you can get it started on sunday, like this sunday.

Have you seen the level of defensive play and goaltending in these playoffs, except in the odd game (outliers). Do you see what it takes to score in these later rounds?

We just don’t have the horses right now. Defense: we have maybe one or two guys who can play that tough game and still use their skills. Offense: I don’t know who would score a goal for us at this point, considering the Penguins of all teams couldn’t find anyone to score.

I think so to Matty. Maybe more than 2 tweaks, but I certainly agree that it is tweaks, not overhauls, that are needed.

Many have said that we will not do as well next season, but I disagree. We may not finish 2nd or win the division again, but that does not necessarily mean that the Habs will have regressed. I see us making the playoffs next year, probably between 4-6 in the standings (in the East). But I think as a team we will improve. The D will be better – Markov will have better conditioning following his adjustment to a fulltime NHL schedule, PK is PK, Tinordi will grow from his call-up, Gorges will be better (he is a warrior and has always been good for us), and Emelin will be back.

Then, Eller will hopefully continue to blossom, and DD and Pacs will get back in their groove. Hopefully Bourque wil continue to play how he did this year. Nonetheless, we have the Gallys in their second year, barring a slump, they will continue to impress us.

I think we are a deep team on the surface. Perhaps not yet in the farm, but with a healthy roster we are very strong and have 3 scoring lines and competent pairings. Oh, I almost forgot Price. Price will be better, for sure. I would bet my house on it but I don’t own property

On a side note, many posters, IMO, conflate size with grit. I agree we need some big bodies up front and on the back end, but it is not necessary to replace our skilled players with bigger players. What matters is that the players with size use that to their advantage and create space/clear the crease. Not every player needs to do this, provided that there are enough players doing such, then the rest of the roster need not change much. I say if we gain a crease-clearing D or 2, and one big forward or 2, then that would put us over the top.

They are letting things go both ways. I don’t find the officiating in this series much different from other series in the playoffs. I think right now if you were in a bruins chat they would be complaining about non calls by the refs. If you were in a Chicago chat they would be complaining about non calls by the refs. The officiating in the playoffs is a joke and I don’t think they are favouring 1 team over the other.

Fair enough. Personally, I would not be surprised if the league did meddle in games by trying to influence an outcome to force game 7, especially after reading about how Campbell did meddle in the officiating. But I want to believe that the league is not a total joke vis-a-vis reffing.

That being said, I think, as you said, that the officiating has been bad all throughout the playoffs. However, I also think that the refs are being very inconsistent, insofar as they are calling the Hawks for borderline things while the Bruins don’t get called for the same things. Maybe the refs are just bad, maybe they are trying to help out the B’s. Whichever, it is, I think that the Bruins have had the benefit of the doubt, while the Hawks have not.

Yeah, all that talent and no class.
Sometimes I wonder: what if the NHL actually called players for that kind of crap? Would they behave better? Probably. I think some of this classlessness is a product of the NHL’s poor officiating and enforcement of their own rules.

The one thing that I enjoy about watching the B’s do well is how it makes everyone who trots out the old chestnut that teams in the West are somehow bigger and better than teams in the East look as profoundly stupid as they should.

Meh, there are imbeciles everywhere, and the playoffs bring in the worst of them.

Habs fans booed the American anthem so regularly that now they preface the anthem with an anouncement listing the Americans on the Habs’ roster, indicating that they are insulting their own players by booing.

I know this is sacrilegious, and I want to start off by saying I want the Hawks to win. But if there was ever a year for Boston to win that could be less of a travesty than any other time, this is it. Should the B’s win, I will not lose sleep over it… this time.

Sucks for the Canucks, I like them as my adoptive hometown team, but I don’t see Torts as a good fit for them. Gillis screwed the pooch and now he is making the team worse off by not taking responsibility and firing himself.

If I had cable, I would get RDS.
Right now, I have game centre and the CBC app for Xbox.
Works for me, some folks would not spend the money for xbox live and thus get RDS/cable, but I don’t watch much live TV, I mostly use Netflix and streams.

Anyway, I don’t mind CBC that much, and it’s better than not watching hockey. But I do wish I had RDS. That’s why I go to Kilgour’s in TO